Westhavens #1
Emily Bascom
Historical Romance
Published in 2007
H/h - Lord Christopher Westhaven/Lady Roisin Melville
Setting: London, 1741.
Read in December, 2014.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
I have been meaning to read Emily Bascom’s The Rogue’s Kiss, book 1 of the Westhavens series, for quite a while now. And now that I’ve read it, have to say I’m quite disappointed. If it wasn’t the writing style, it was the lead characters that drove me bonkers. I never quite connected with Christopher or Kit and Roisin, neither did I feel their attraction to one another.
The setting is in the early 1740s. Roisin, who recently lost her Earl of a father, is in London for a season that basically her mother wants much more than her. Roisin is not really Irish, though they’ve made a home there. Ireland is more her home than England. She loved spending time gallivanting around their big estate with her older brothers. And this, her mother can’t stand. She wants her daughter to have a season, grab a husband and become a true lady, once and for all. But Roisin... well, she’s headstrong and right now, sitting in this shabby old inn, she feels bored and miserable, while her ancient chaperone doses in the other room. So she makes a plan to escape and return to Ireland. Silly I’d say, but that’s how she meets this highwayman, Ewan MacHamilton, who accosts her hired carriage bounding through the lonely road in the middle of the night.
Roisin is scared but she doesn’t sit there and
cower. While the drives runs away leaving her alone, she confronts the
highwayman. Ewan MacHamilton is pretty famous in these parts. The
authorities are even now searching for him, coveting the big price on
his head. But all Roisin can see is the bright red hair and a bit of his
face, as he’s wearing a half-mask. As she and the mysterious highwayman
keep exchanging words, he makes a move to kidnap her and Roisin ends up
shooting him on one arm. But she’s also fooled by the clever man the
next moment and is taken nonetheless, to his rickety cottage in the
woods, where she’s forced to tend to his injuries. Though Roisin is
angry at this, and her own foolishness, she’s still attracted to the
man. He hasn’t tried to harm her any way that she can blame on him. He
seems kind enough, and when she demands after tending to his wounds,
that he let her go, the man escorts her to the edge of the wood. Before
saying goodbye, he kisses her passionately and then disappears into the
night.
After that, Roisin finds help in a nearby inn and back to
the care of her guardian, her mother’s brother. She finds a welcoming
place at her Uncle’s and a friend in her cousin, Cathy, who is a blonde,
bubbly and quite chatty. Roisin herself is pretty with reddish-brown
hair and hazel eyes, though she thinks Cathy is more beautiful than her.
As she starts attending season, albeit reluctantly, she meets this
brooding stranger in a ball, whom Cathy introduced to her as Christopher
or Kit, Lord Westhaven. It was pretty apparent that Cathy was enamored
of this tall and dark handsome lord but he’s... not so much. Roisin
finds him attractive in a distant sort of way but that’s all, though for
an instant he seemed disturbingly familiar. But he doesn’t have bright
red hair. Why would a peer of the realm become a thug, a highwayman for
that matter? So Roisin lets it go.
Then we find Kit contemplating
Roisin, when the news reaches to them that Ewan MacHamilton has been
captured by the authorities. Kit runs out as fast as he could to
visit... James, his younger brother, who is now awaiting his fate at
Newgate. When two brothers finally met, it’s revealed that James is,
indeed, the famed highwayman with red hair. And he’s destined to die by
hanging. It’s also revealed that when their father left them in a huge
debt, it was the risk-taker James’ idea to become a highwayman to solve
their financial problems. Kit didn’t like this, but he couldn’t stop him
either. And now it seems, James is going to sow what he reaped. And
even though he didn’t really harm, maim or killed anyone, he’s still
pretty famous for his exploits. It was also apparent that he’s eager to
die, rather than help Kit do something. I didn’t know what to think, and
why James was SO EAGER for Kit to carry along with Westhaven line,
while he perishes. And he specifically asks Kit to bring Roisin so that
he can see her. Kit though, wants to help out. He tries to talking to
the people related to this case, but it turns out Roisin’s uncle has
friends everywhere. And because Roisin’s kidnapping is a much talked
about event, the judge, who was once Kit’s father’s friend, refuses to
help. Kit couldn’t exactly divulge why he wanted to help this thug, and
he leaves with a heavy heart, knowing he can’t do anything to save his
brother. Personally, I thought Kit didn’t do enough to save James. He
just gave up.
It is then that I was also thinking that if James
is Ewan, then he must be the one who kissed Roisin. And now he’s going
to be hanged? WTF? Roisin, who has been daydreaming about the mysterious
highwayman, is unhappy about the outcome. She didn’t want him to hang,
but what can she do to prevent it? (Maybe talk to the uncle?) Anyway, it
was sure that James was going to hang nonetheless, which happens at
Tyburn, while Kit, Roisin and Cathy looked on with thousand other
spectators. I was basically in shock and thinking, if the author wanted
James to kiss Roisin, who still has a tendre for him,
then why kill him? I even hoped that maybe, just
maybe we’ll find that James has escaped somehow.
Unfortunately, when I find Kit and his manservant, John, standing at
James’ grave, my hopes were crushed.
James is buried at
Oakridge, their family estate. Kit drowns himself in liquor and his
mistress, a maidservant of the house, who was also John’s younger
sister, in sorrow. But we don’t get to know about all these until much
later, when he has decided to honor her brother’s wishes; by marrying
for money to save Oakridge, his primary choice being Lady Roisin whom he
found attractive enough. She had money, so why not? Then he stops by at
Roisin’s uncle’s and invites her to Oakridge to have a little chat.
Cathy is very happy, thinking Kit needs this intervention. It was
rumored that James Westhaven has very recently passed away in an
accident, so naturally Kit needed some diversions from his grief. And
no, no one but Kit and John knew of James’ nightly activities at that
point.
When he returns, we find said maid, Annette, making a
move towards him, though Kit rebuffs her advances. She’s surprised. You
see, John and she used to be from a good family with money. But when
they fell on hard times, with their father leaving them destitute and
fleeing the country, John was forced to work. Same happened to Anne. But
apparently she was still unused to this lifestyle when once, she had
the best of everything. Kit let most of their servants go due to
financial problems. It was only John, Annette and the cook maintaining
the house. Nevertheless, I despise any hero who sleeps with the maids of
their home. It says something about their characters. After that,
naturally, I couldn’t quite bring myself to like Kit. He was also very
callous about breaking it off with Annette, now that he has a bigger
fish to fry, with the universal ‘I never promised you anything more’
crap. He needs virginity and money in his wife, and Annette had none of
those so she’s out of the question. This angers Annette, and I couldn’t
really blame her. Very predictably, she becomes the proverbial evil
mistress who was going to wreck havoc on Kit and Roisin’s life.
I
was still not sure where things were going, and didn’t like the fact
that the author would make the heroine fall for one guy, then make
another the hero of the story. Also, as mentioned earlier, I never quite
saw the attraction between Roisin and Kit. They have this awkward
conversation, which didn’t surprise me, when Roisin reaches Oakridge.
Kit proposes to her, being bluntly honest about needing her money. I
found it to be one of the most callous proposals out there. And I didn’t
like how Kit insults Cathy as Roisin’s ‘twittering cousin’, when he
KNEW that the girl had feelings for him. He plainly didn’t care which
was very insensitive. He makes it very clear that he wants Roisin, not
Cathy. Though Roisin felt no big urgency, she still gives her consent.
As promised by Kit, she can live her life as she wishes. Besides,
Oakridge is very beautiful and reminds her of her home in Ireland.
When
she returns, Cathy is hurt and enraged, which was justifiable, though
Roisin’s aunt and uncle are happy for her. Oddly enough, neither
Roisin’s mother nor her brothers, attend the wedding. I found it weird
that the mother completes her ‘duty’ by sending her blessings through a
letter! :/ In that regard, we never met Roisin’s family in the story.
After the wedding, Roisin retires to Oakridge, her new ‘home’ with a
husband who seems not to know what to do with her. This moment, he’s
kissing her like his life depends on it, the next he’s cold and aloof as
if he can’t stand the sight of her. Needless to say, it leaves her
exasperated and hurt because she was beginning to find Kit’s kisses
drugging. And though she still mourned the mysterious highwayman’s
untimely demise, Roisin knew she had to move on with her life. But
still, at times, she couldn’t help but be confused about her reaction to
Kit’s kisses and touches...
Kit was ever the confused guy. He
wanted Roisin, but was scared about the ‘family secret’ regarding James.
He knew Roisin was enamored of Ewan MacHamilton but I never saw any
reaction from him until at the very end of the story. He wanted her
alright but he thought it’d be the best for them both to not have the
marriage consummated. He made sure Roisin knew of it when he proposed,
to which, she, at first, acceded. But now, both are frustrated about
this non-consummation pact.
Here, I have to mention that Kit
never got rid of Annette and I DID NOT like it. His excuse was he was
doing a favor to his close friend, John. If he felt so much for his
‘best friend’ then why make the girl his mistress, even if she was the
one initiated it. I mean WTF? Having the ex-mistress under the same roof
with the new bride? It just made Kit doubly unlikable to me. I felt he
was just... again, callous to the core. I have to clarify also, that
though I couldn’t blame Annette for her anger towards Kit, I wasn’t fond
of her either. She turns out to be pretty vengeful by keeping on making
rash comments with innuendoes to rile Roisin up, who up until now, was
oblivious to their past relationship. Then she slips
very intentionally and the truth slaps Roisin hard on
her face, just.like.that. Roisin is angry at Annette’s sarcastic
replies, something a servant aught never even think of while talking to
her mistress. When she confronts Kit, he confirms her suspicion without
one ounce of remorse that Annette was his mistress up until the day he
went to propose to Roisin.
I wish Roisin was as disgusted and
frustrated as I was about this whole mess. When she demands Annette to
be removed from the house, Kit flatly refuses with the same excuse about
doing a favor to John. I mean really? REALLY? Unfortunately for Roisin,
she herself seemed confused about what to do in this situation. When
Kit refuses to anything, she takes it up on herself to warn Annette
which ends up in a cat fight. While I was agape at what was happening,
John and Kit reach there to break them off. And you’d think after that
Kit would get rid of the girl? But Nooooooooo. He just gives her a few
days off and actually scolds Roisin for not ‘acting like a lady’! Huh?
So what was she supposed to do, sit there demurely in a ‘lady-like
fashion’ while his mistress clawed her bloody? I mean C’MON weakling,
grow a pair! Kit was such a weak-willed guy that I was hoping that this
farce will end soon for I could care less what happened to them after
that.
But after this incident, Annette is more than determined to
do something to harm both Kit and Roisin, and it’s not only their
marriage. She goes in search of something shady that can do the trick
for her easily. She had always heard those rumors about James
Westhaven... What is Kit hiding? Why were all of James’ portraits taken
down right before his marriage? Why does he not show James’ portrait to
Roisin? Most importantly, what is the meaning of all these?
She
does make trouble once again by giving Roisin the info on James’
portraits and where they can be found. It was right after when she and
Kit finally consummate their marriage after much push and pull. She saw
something on Kit’s body that completely threw her off and she needed the
answer. Why does he refuse to show her his beloved brother’s pictures? I
can only say that, afterwards, it was time for Kit to come clean.
Feeling hurt, betrayed, Roisin leaves Kit that day, while Annette pats
herself on the back for a work well done. *sigh*
After Roisin
leaves, Annette brags about herself to John, not knowing he knew much
more about Kit than she ever did. When Kit is informed of her misdeeds,
FINALLY he grows a pair and throws Annette out. John, as a brother, was a
failure. He shows his loyalty to Kit and relieved that Annette’s
finally gone! Even then, I couldn’t bring myself to entirely hate
Annette. Yes, she did wrong but it wasn’t entirely her fault. Kit was no
saint. Either way, it was already too late as her information to the
authorities leads to Kit’s arrest as an accomplice to Ewan MacHamilton.
Then it was up to Roisin to save her erstwhile husband from a sure death
penalty...
Personally, at that point, I was just finishing up.
You could see why I didn’t like this one all that much. I didn’t care
for Kit and wished Roisin was stronger. The debut novel vibe showed I
guess. The next book, Major Westhaven’s Unwilling Ward, is of Roisin-Kit’s son, Daniel’s. I hope that one’s better though. 3 stars.
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